Waqf Amendment Bill passed in Rajya Sabha after heated debate

Finally, after several hours of discussion in Rajya Sabha, the Waqf Amendment Bill was passed. On Thursday, a heated debate took place between the NDA and the INDIA Block MPs. In Rajya Sabha, 95 votes were cast against the bill and 128 votes were cast in favour of the bill. Earlier, the Waqf Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

After the bill is passed in both houses, it will be sent to the President. After the President's approval, this bill will take the form of a law. The opposition was accusing the Modi government that through this bill, the government wants to seize the Waqf property. At the same time, BJP claims that the opposition is misleading Muslims for its political benefit.

To get the bill passed, the Modi government crossed two major hurdles and first convinced the allies JDU and TDP in Lok Sabha and then got it passed easily after a long debate in the Rajya Sabha. The opposition felt that this time BJP, which is far from the majority in Lok Sabha, will not be able to pass this bill on its own.

The government first convinced the allies by introducing the Waqf Amendment Bill in Parliament on 8 August 2024. After this, it was sent to the JPC. The Parliamentary Committee approved its report on the new changes in the Waqf Bill on 29 January. There were 15 votes in favor and 14 against this report. After this, when the bill came to the Lok Sabha, the result was that 520 MPs participated in the voting. 288 voted in favor and 232 voted against.

The opposition felt that the government running on the strength of Nitish Kumar's MPs in Bihar and Chandrababu Naidu's MPs in Andhra Pradesh would hesitate to decide on Waqf. But even with 240 seats, the BJP looked the same in Parliament as it was with 303 seats. After a marathon debate that lasted for more than 12 hours, the government prevailed over the opposition in favor of the Waqf Amendment Bill. Nitish Kumar and Chandrababu Naidu firmly supported the government despite the pressure from the opposition and Muslim organizations. Even the Congress's argument of secularism was rejected by Nitish Kumar's party.

Former Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's party Biju Janata Dal (BJD) changed its stand on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024. The BJD had earlier strongly opposed the bill and called it against the interests of minorities and later allowed its MPs to take independent decisions during voting on it.

The BJD had made it clear that the party would not issue any whip on this bill and its MPs in the Rajya Sabha can vote according to their own will by listening to the voice of their conscience.

There are currently 236 MPs in the Rajya Sabha, due to which the support of 119 MPs was needed for a majority here. The BJP has 98 MPs in the Rajya Sabha. If we look at the alliance, the number of NDA members was close to 118. If we add the six nominated members who usually vote in favour of the government, then the NDA would have reached 124 in the numbers game. Including Congress (27), 88 members of INDIA Block parties were in the Rajya Sabha.

It was the magic of BJP's strategy that 128 votes were cast in favour of the bill in the Rajya Sabha while 95 members voted against it. It was worth noting that three BJP MPs were absent during the voting.